


The Family Ties That Bind

by DesertVixen



Category: Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Family Feels, Gen, Leia I am your father, from a certain point of view
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 08:41:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15968765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/pseuds/DesertVixen
Summary: Han helps Leia deal with the facts about her brother...and her fathers.





	The Family Ties That Bind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Plaid_Slytherin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Plaid_Slytherin/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Family Ties](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6449539) by [The_Plaid_Slytherin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Plaid_Slytherin/pseuds/The_Plaid_Slytherin). 



He had to let Leia figure things out, Han told himself, and that process would go better if she and Luke didn’t have an audience. The Falcon never failed to have something that needed to be fixed, so it was an easy excuse. Chewie grumbled all the way back to the Falcon until Han told him to go back to the party. No reason for them both to suffer, Han thought as he boarded the ship.

Luke had already accepted the facts, had already worked past the issues, had already put his faith in the Force. Leia was still getting used to the idea.

Han admitted that learning Darth Vader was actually your father would knock anyone for a loop, even someone as tough as the rebel princess he had rescued from the first Death Star. How much harder was it on Leia, knowing that this man – the same man who had ordered the attack on her ship, killed the men and women who had been protecting her, forced her to watch as her home was destroyed after she had sold a part of her soul to save it – was actually her father? 

He had nearly killed her, but she owed him her very existence.

Han thought it would take a lot of getting used to.

He thought back to when they had first met. It seemed like a lifetime had passed between now and that detention cell. Han never would have guessed that the naïve farm boy he’d picked up on the backwater dustball of Tatooine and the sophisticated princess who had ordered them both around within seconds of meeting them were actually brother and sister. 

Of course, Han thought with a grin, they hadn’t known either. He could still remember the hot flare of jealousy when Leia kissed Luke because she was annoyed, and how irritable he had been at the oh-so-smug smile on Luke’s face. 

And yet, the moment had stuck with him because as much as he loved Leia, what Han really wanted for her was for her to be happy – even if it wasn’t with him. He had been prepared to step aside so she could be happy with Luke. Then she had told him that Luke was her brother, and despite the fact that they were in the middle of a battlefield, he’d never been happier – until she kissed him.

Han figured if he was smart, he would never mention the kiss again.

He had been so pleased to discover that Luke was not a romantic rival, that he didn’t have to step aside and be the bigger man, that he had not really thought all of it through, had not thought of what it would really mean to be the daughter of Darth Vader. 

Somehow, he didn’t think Luke had worked all the way through it either.

*** 

Han had been able to check all the repairs Lando had completed twice, fiddling with a few of them, before he heard Leia enter the ship. She didn’t come up to the cockpit, but Han knew she would join him when she was ready.

The party mood on Endor was still going strong, but they all knew there was plenty of work left to be done. The Emperor’s death was only one step in freeing the galaxy from the Empire, to restoring order and creating a New Republic. Leia was going to be part of it, and he planned to be by her side. After all, he was respectable now.

When she did find her way to him, Leia dropped into the co-pilot’s chair, and said nothing. They sat there in companionable silence while he continued tinkering with a repair, fixing something that had been just fine before his old friend had taken his ship on a joyride through the second Death Star. 

Just when he was convinced she wasn’t going to say anything at all, Leia sighed. “I think I liked it better when I was an orphan.”

“Did Luke answer your questions, at least?”

“I should have expected nothing less from a Jedi,” she grumbled. “The answers really only lead to more questions.”

Han could relate to that sentiment. He still was not really convinced that the Force was as powerful as Luke claimed. 

And yet, he couldn’t deny that there was definitely something to the concept that a mystical forcefield was wrapped around everyone and everything. Some of Luke’s accomplishments could be put down to luck, to plenty of practice shooting womp rats, but others could not be so easily explained away. There was also Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had given his life for theirs, whose body had simply vanished when Darth Vader struck him down. Perhaps hokey religions and ancient weapons had their place, he thought.

“You still see it that way,” Leia said, and Han realized he must have spoken his last thought out loud. 

“You know me. I believe in what I can see,” Han replied, taking her hand in his, “in what I can feel.”

She smiled a little then, and she tightened her hand around his. “Do you really think Luke was just lucky?”

He shrugged, gave her a smile. “Does it really matter?”

“He wants me to develop my powers, to learn how to use it…the Force.” She looked off into the distance. “He wanted to save Vader, to turn him back to the light. It sounds like he did, at the end.” She drew in a deep breath. “Luke said I could even speak with Vader.” 

Leia couldn’t bring herself to use the word ‘father’. Bail Organa was her father, had been her father, had taught her all of the things that she knew and treasured. Vader was the man who had taken her father away.

“Sounds like an interesting family reunion,” Han joked, trying to lighten the mood. 

“I told him I’d pass. The important thing is that Luke is my brother. I always wanted one, when I was little.” Leia was trying not to think about the other family members, the aunt and uncle she had never known because Bail Organa had taken her to Alderaan. Trying not to think about the presence that must have been the woman who carried her inside her, the woman who had been her mother before Breha Organa ever held her in her arms. She could not handle it just yet, not right now.

“I’m glad he’s your brother,” Han said softly.

“And not your competition?” This time she gave him a real smile, even if her eyes were still shadowed with heavier thoughts.

“I’d have won the competition,” Han said, standing and pulling her to her feet. “I guarantee it.”

Leia stepped closer, linked her arms around his neck and leaned against him. “Oh?”

He grinned. “Sounds like you need a demonstration.”

“Maybe I do,” she said, and laughed as he swung her up into his arms. 

Maybe, she thought as she kissed Han, she just needed him.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! I really enjoyed this story, and had fun tackling the other side of the coin with Han.


End file.
